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A FIGHT WITH THE NEGROES 



MORRISON’S SYSTEM OF NATURAL HISTORY STORIES 


NASHVILLE, TENN.; DALLAS, TEX.; RICHMOND, VA. 
PUBLISHING HOUSE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH 
SMITH & LAMAR, AGENTS 


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Copyright, igiz 

BY 

Smith & Lamar 


©CI.A:3;30594^^ 


MY FRIEND 
J. C. WHARTON 
AN INTELLECTUAL GENIUS 
WITH THE GENTLENESS 
OF A CHILD 






INTRODUCTION. 


I HAVE read “Willie Wyld’s Trip through Africa” 
with keen interest. The narrative itself holds you, 
while the many descriptions of animals and birds, their 
life and habits, with an account of the African tribes, 
their social customs, homes, gardens, .hunting, and 
tribal life, add an additional interest and value without 
detracting from the narrative. I congratulate the au- 
thor and commend his book to both child and adult. 
These stories were told orally by the author. Dr. Mor- 
rison, to the young people, and what he has done for 
his children and friends all parents should do for their 
children — tell them stories. It brings us into a de- 
lightful fellowship with the young people, a source of 
perennial youth. We grow by giving. He who tells a 
story makes it doubly his. 

Not only should adults tell stories to children, but 
the children should have an opportunity to retell sto- 
ries they have heard. Expression is life; suppression 
is death. The retelling of a story by a child or adult 
gives power to see clearly a mental picture, to follow a 
plot, to feel the truth of a situation, to use the creative 
faculties, judgment in the use of words and phrases, 
and to move on to a climax and end. These are the 
same faculties one uses in life’s work and in the devel- 
opment of character and personality. 

Before the art of writing we had the oral story. 

( 7 ) 


8 


WILLIE WYLD, 


Some of the great story books of the world, such as 
the “Iliad” and “Odyssey” — “the bright sun of Homer 
shining in the glad morning of the world” — the tales of 
Siegfried, Beowulf, and King Arthur were handed 
down by word of mouth and molded into shape by sag- 
aman, gleeman, and minstrel, the old story-tellers, be- 
fore they were committed to writing. The author in 
telling his stories orally first has repeated the historical 
process in the making of this story book. 

Story-telling is a creative process. Even though one 
tell a story thousands of years old, he must make over 
anew its imagery and emotion, holding true to the 
spirit, yet giving it modern form and breathing into it 
the breath of life as we feel it to-day. The author has 
done this and much more: he has originated the plot 
and from natural history and life gathered his material, 
set it in order, and given it life and interest. 






New York 


CONTENTS. 

Page 

First Evening ii 

Second Evening 25 

Third Evening 37 

Fourth Evening.... 49 

Fifth Evening 60 

Sixth Evening 70 

Seventh Evening 82 

Eighth Evening 94 

Ninth Evening 104 

(9) 





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First Evening. 

W HEN I tell you, children, of the 
dreadful time I had while lost in the 
jungles of Africa, I know you will 
think I had a charmed life. 

General Kermit and I had made our way 
miles and miles inland. In fact, the village 
we wanted to reach was several months’ trav- 
el from the eastern coast of Africa. Here 
we met Dr. Wesley, a missionary, whom we 
thought was the only white man to have ever 
made his way that far into the wilderness of 
that wild country ; but he told us that from 
the Arab slave traders he had heard of a 
white man in a country to the north of us. 
He suspected this man was an American hunt- 
er and trapper who had been taken prisoner 
by some negro warriors while catching ani- 

(II) 


12 


WILLIE WYLD. 


mals; for when he wanted to make the jour- 
ney into Africa he had joined a hunting par- 
ty, but his companion was captured in U-sa- 
Gara and they were separated, never seeing 
each other afterwards. Dr. Wesley said the 
hunter’s name, strange to say, was the same 
as mine. I told him my father had started to 
India to get animals for the zoo, and then I 
began to wonder if for some reason he had 
changed his plan. Could it be possible that 
it was my father a prisoner among savage ne- 
groes ? 

Dr. Wesley saw that I was greatly dis- 
turbed, and told me not to worry, for even if 
it were my father, as the king’s prisoner he 
would be well treated. The reason he did not 
come south, he supposed, was that the king 
would not furnish him with men and provi- 
sions for the journey, and the Arabs would not 
let him come with them because they feared 
offending the negro king. 

‘Why do you suppose the king wants to 
keep this hunter a prisoner ?” I asked. 

“O,” replied Dr. Wesley, “he hopes that 
some day the hunter will teach him how to 
make his black skin white and his kinky hair 
straight. Why,” excaimed the Doctor, “if I 


/ WAS DETERMINED TO GO. 


13 


had the power to make these negroes white 
and take the kinks out of their hair, every one 
of them would join the Church and never back- 
slide if they thought they would turn black 
again 

I hated to ask General Kermit to go with 
me farther into this wild country, for the jour- 
ney from Zanzibar had been a trying one on 
a man of his age; yet, believing this white 
man to be my father, I was determined to go 
and decided to talk to the General about it. 
In reply he told me that our soldiers and por- 
ters were hired to go only as far as this vil- 
lage and he feared they would now want to 
return. ‘‘But,’’ said he, ''we can let those who 
want to return do so, and hire others from the 
king.’’ 

O, but I was delighted to hear him say this ! 
For I dreaded to undertake this journey alone, 
and yet I had made up my mind to go. 

After talking with Dr. Wesley, we decided 
that he should go to Zanzibar with any of our 
men who wanted to return. General Kermit 
and I would take those who would go with us, 
hire others whom we might need, and push on 
to the north. Should we find this white man, 
we would not come south, but explore the coun- 


14 


WILLIE WYLD, 


try to the headwaters of the Nile River and 
go down that stream, returning home by way 
of the Mediterranean Sea. 

I did not want to lose a moment in making 
ready to go on our journey; but when the 
king was asked for men and guides, he told 
us that his people had been so long surround- 
ed by the army of his enemy, which we had 
driven away, that they were starving and must 
be fed before he would allow any to go. He 
said there were any number of wild animals 
about the village, and with our ‘‘hot-mouthed 
weapons’’ we could in a little while kill enough 
meat to feed all his people. 

The General directed me to take Juma and 
go on the hunt with the king’s men while he 
prepared for our journey. 

The hunters were soon ready, and, to my 
great surprise, two horses were brought for 
Juma and me to ride, the only ones I had 
seen since we had left the seacoast. They 
were without saddle or bridle, but a strap with 
which to guide them was tied in their mouths. 

The witch doctor led us to a part of the 
country where as far as I could see in front of 
us the land was level and covered with grass. 
It was a real animal paradise. In the distance 


STRANGE-SHAPED ANIMALS. 


15 


to the right of us were hills covered with trees. 
From these hills a stream of water went racing 
down, bubbling and sparkling in the sunlight 
as it dashed from one place to another on its 
way to join a river in the valley. Dotted about 
over the plain were groves, or thickets, of mi- 
mosa trees. With my field glasses I caught 
sight of eight or ten strange-shaped animals. 
They were far out on the plain, and in the 
rays of the western sun they looked as though 
they might have come from some other world 
than ours. Juma and I hid in a clump of mi- 
mosa trees while the negro hunters drove the 
animals toward us. 

It was a beautiful and wonderful sight, this 
herd of giraffes, as it came over the plain. 
The leader of the herd had a neck that looked 
to be ten feet long, while his forelegs were 
almost as long as his neck. He could lift his 
head above any animal in the world. With 
his tongue he could pluck the leaves from the 
tops of mimosa trees twenty feet high. He 
was so tall that he could have eaten his food 
from the gutters of a two-story house. Flis 
head was like that of a horse, while the shape 
of his neck and shoulders reminded me of a 
camel. He had the ears of an ox, the tail 


i6 


WILLIE WYLD. 


of a donkey, and the legs of an antelope, 
while his spotted hide resembled that of a beau- 
tiful leopard. 

But for the fact that my men and the peo- 
ple at the village must have food I could not 
have killed the animal when I saw his large, 
brilliant, beautiful, soft brown eyes. But I 
took aim at his head, pulled the trigger, and 
my rifle ball did its dreadful work. The giraffe 
fell to the ground. The other animals took 



A HERD OF GIRAFFES. 


fright and galloped away in such an awkward, 
clumsy manner that they made me laugh. 

Juma and I jumped on our horses and fol- 
lowed them, leaving the dead beast to the care 
of the negroes. The giraffes had a good start, 
but they did not look as though they were 
going very fast. I thought we could easily 


THE RACE, 


17 


overtake them, but in this I was mistaken. I 
saw from their tracks that they were taking 
about fourteen feet at each step, and unless 
we could tire them out it would be no easy 
matter to get within shooting distance of them. 

Our horses were fresh and sped over the 
plain at a rapid rate until we reached a very 
rough part of the country. Here the giraffes 
had the better of the race, and would keep 
just a little way ahead of us. As they ran their 
heads swayed to and fro on their long necks 
like tall trees in a windstorm. At the same 
time they lashed themselves with their tails, 
often turning their heads to look at us as if 
to see how close we were to them. 

The giraffe is a silent animal, and so far as 
I know has never uttered a sound. For this 
reason our chase over the plains in the still- 
ness of the late afternoon was a quiet one. 
We were gaining on the giraffes; but the sun 
was fast sinking, and for a few moments made 
the trees and plain change from green and 
brown to red. Then we were in the gloom of 
night, with clouds gathering in the south. 

The giraffes disappeared in the darkness, 
but our horses did not slacken their speed. 
I could not control my animal until he was 
2 


i8 WILLIE WYLD. 

worn out. The night was dark. A storm 
was upon us, and we did not know how to find 
our companions or get back to the village. 
We could not see an object except when there 
was a flash of lightning. The horses seemed 
to know that we were about to have one of 
those dreadful Afri- 
can storms, and, 
quivering with 
fright, they refused 
to go farther. 

Juma and I 
slipped to the ground, 
and by patting them 
on the neck and talk- 
ing kindly we quiet- 
ed them. Then the 
rain and hail came 
down with such fury 
that it seemed to me we should be pelted to 
death or drowned in the downpour. We were 
thankful that the storm did not last long, and 
got on our horses, allowing the animals to take 
us where they would. 

The roar of a lion frightened them, and 
they again started on a run. Entering a for- 
est at the edge of the plain, we raced along 



NO SIGN OF LIFE ABOUT THE PLACE. 19 

through the bushes. I thought I should be 
brushed from my horse’s back by the tree 
limbs. The animals did not stop until they 
came to an open space, where in the dim light 
we could make out the shapes of negro huts. 

There was no sign of life about the place, 
and we rode in to find the main street grown 
up in weeds. We hobbled our horses by ty- 
ing the strap about their forelegs ; then going 
into one of the huts, we built a fire. While 
drying our clothes Juma told me that in Af- 
rica all the people would leave their villages if 
the witch doctor told them that evil spirits 
had come to live in the houses. But he was 
quite sure that these people had been run from 
their homes by some chief who had taken ev- 
erything they had, and that this place had 
once been the home of the horses. For that 
reason the animals had brought us there in- 
stead of taking us back to the village where 
we came from. We were hungry, but so tired 
that sleep soon stole upon us. 

I was awakened by a roar like that of a huge 
lion. The night had passed ; the sun was shin- 
ing brightly, so I made Juma get up. We took 
our guns and went to the door, expecting to 
have to protect our horses against a lion. 


20 


WILLIE WYLD, 


But as we stepped outside the hut, several os- 
triches were going by; and one gave a roar 
so much like that of a lion that I lost my nerve. 
However, Juma fired and wounded one. The 
horses had not been fooled, and were quiet- 
ly eating grass. We unfastened their legs, 



The ostrich roared like a lion. 


jumped on their backs, and began to chase the 
big birds. 

The ostrich that Juma had wounded could 
not keep up with his companions, for the huge 


LED US AWAY FROM THE VILLA GE, 21 


birds were running as fast as a railroad train 
going twenty-six miles an hour. Their tracks 
were fourteen feet apart, while their legs 
moved so fast that I could not see them. Even 
the lame one was keeping far enough ahead 
of us to be out of the reach of our bullets. 

The birds led us away from the village and 
over a plain; but we kept up the chase, hop- 
ing to overtake the wounded one. On we 
went, gaining on him while the others were 
being lost to sight in the distance. Our horses 
seemed to enjoy the chase, and at last I came 
close enough to the lame bird to give him a 
ball. This made him slacken his speed, and 
my horse ran by him. I turned about and 
faced the ostrich. This brought us close to 
the big bird, when, to my surprise, he kicked 
forward, hitting my horse with such force that 
1 came near falling off his back. The bird 
ran by me, but Juma fired and he fell. 

As he lay on the ground kicking the sand 
and grass, making it fly in every direction, 
Juma ran up and began pulling out the beau- 
tiful white plumes that formed the bird's tail 
and wings. I thought this was cruel, and 
wanted him to quit until the bird was dead. 
But Juma said that if the plumes were not 


22 


WILLIE WYLD. 


pulled out before the ostrich died they would 
be of little value — that to have good ostrich 
plumes they must be taken while the bird was 
alive. By the time he had breathed his last 
Juma had pulled out all the beautiful white 
plumes. 

The ostrich is the largest and strongest of 
all birds. This one must have weighed more 
than three hundred pounds, for Juma and I 
could not lift him. He was eight or nine feet 
tall, and his body was covered with black feath- 
ers. Juma did not undertake to pick these 
off, but began to skin the bird, and I gathered 
dead grass and weeds to build a fire. 

While doing this, to my surprise I found 
an ostrich egg. I called Juma to come and 
see it. ‘Tf we hunt about the plain, we shall 
find more of them,'’ he said, ''for those birds 
have come to eat the melons you have seen 
growing all around us. They have not as yet 
made their nests, and when this is the case they 
will lay their eggs wherever they happen to 
be." 

We soon found six big eggs, each one weigh- 
ing about four pounds. It would take two doz- 
en hen eggs to equal one of them. Juma 
prepared to cook three of them by first cut- 


I DEVOURED ONE OSTRICH EGG. 23 


ting a hole about the size of a silver half 
dollar in one end of each egg. Putting the 
eggs on the fire, he cut a little forked stick and 
put the forked or ‘‘Y’’ part into an egg. By 
rolling the handle of the ‘‘Y” between his 
hands, he made it spin around, first one way 
and then the other. In this way he scrambled 
the eggs as they cooked in their shells. We 
had no salt ; and while I did not like the flavor 
of the ostrich eggs, they tasted very good to a 
hungry fellow. 

I had never before been so long without 
food as to be able to eat two dozen hen eggs. 


but I devoured one os- 
trich egg without any 
trouble. Juma want- 
ed to cook another 
one, so we could have 
two apiece, but I had 
had all I wanted. As 
these eggs will keep 
fresh for more than a 
month, I told him that 



he had better cook some meat and keep the eggs 
for another meal. 

As Juma cooked the meat he had cut from 
the breast of the ostrich, I asked him many 


24 


WILLIE WYLD. 


questions about the big birds. He told me that 
they could outrun the fastest horse; that they 
were as strong as an ox and could kick harder 
than a mule, but, unlike the mule, the ostrich 
always kicked to the front. 

The ostrich nest, he said, was nothing more 
than a hole scratched in the sand about twen- 
ty inches deep and five or six feet across the 
top. Some of the nests were large enough for 
a man to lie down in. As many as fifty eggs 
are sometimes found standing on end in one 
nest, and the only difference between these 
eggs and those of a hen is that the shells are 
very thick and in each egg there is something 
like a little pebble. When so many eggs are 
found in one nest, it is being used by more 
than one bird. 

I think this is enough about the ostrich until 
our next meeting. 



Second Evening. 

L ast evening I promised to tell you 
young people about the ostrich. On the 
outside of his nest there are always sev- 
eral eggs. These are for the little ones to eat 
while they are too small to hunt for food. The 
father and mother birds take turn about in sit- 
ting on the nests while hatching out the eggs. 
At night, while the mother is on the nest, the fa- 
ther bird stands guard to drive away the jack- 
als or any other animals that may come about. 
By the time all the eggs are hatched out, 
some of the young ostriches are as large as a 
hen and can run after their mother. Should 
anything happen to the mother bird, the fa- 
ther will take charge of the little ones and care 
for them. 

If the mother bird has her young ones out 
with her hunting food and sees an enemy com- 
ing toward her, she will pretend that she is 
lame, and will go limping along in a way to 

(25) 


26 


WILLIE WYLD, 


make her enemy believe she is wounded and 
get him to chase her, always keeping just out 
of his reach. She takes this means of leading 
him away from her little ones. They, know- 
ing there is danger, squat close to the ground. 
Here they remain as quiet as if they were dead ; 
and being of a brownish gray color, they are 
not likely to be seen. 

I learned from Juma that the negroes who 
hunt ostriches will skin one, then stuff its neck 
and head so as to look like a live bird with all 
its feathers in place. When they go out to 
hunt, they take this ostrich skin with all the 
feathers on it; and as soon as they see a 
flock of the birds, one will put the skin over 
his body, hold the head up, and turn it from 
side to side as a live bird would do. The os- 
trich, being a very silly bird, takes this man in 
the skin to be a friend and allows the hunter to 
come among the flock. In this way he can 
sometimes spear two or three before the others 
see their mistake and run away. Before the 
birds are cold in death he plucks the few white 
plumes from their wings and tails. The dead 
ostrich is then taken to the village, where the 
skin is made into leather and its flesh used for 
food. 


OSTRICH THIRTY YEARS OLD. 


27 


While Juma was talking we had cooked sev- 
eral pieces of the big bird, but we found it so 
tough when we began to eat it that Juma said : 
“This bird must have been thirty years old, 
for the meat of a young ostrich is as tender 
and as good as that of a chicken/’ 

I was surprised to learn that the ostrich lived 
to be thirty years old; but I never doubted 
what Juma said. 

Our horses had wandered to a clump of 
shade trees, and we thought it best to let them 
eat and rest awhile before trying to find our 
friends. Juma lay upon the ground and went 
to sleep, while I kept a sharp lookout in every 
direction over the plains. 

Away in the distance I could see a herd 
of zebras, and among them a number of os- 
triches. Zebras like 
the ostriches to be with 
them, because they 
are tall and can look 
over the high grass 
and see any object on 
the plain. Should an 
enemy b e stealing 
upon the herd, the ostriches can give the zebras 
warning in time for them to run away. 



28 


WILLIE WYLD, 


That I might better look over the plain and 
at the same time take a rest, I climbed upon a 
limb of one of the little trees. I had just seat- 
ed myself when, near the dead ostrich, mov- 
ing about in the grass, I saw some animals of 
a slate gray color and about the size of a large 
dog. They had sharp noses and bushy tails. 
When they came out of the tall grass, going 



JACKALS HUNTING THE DEAD OSTRICH. 


over to where the dead bird lay, I saw that 
they were jackals. 

Those hungry, wolfish animals began tear- 
ing the bird to pieces and eating its flesh. 
They snapped and snarled at each other un- 
til I expected every moment for them to get 
to fighting over the meat. 

There were so many of them that they soon 


I FIRED INTO THE PACK, 29 

devoured the ostrich and then began to prowl 
around as if in search of something more to eat. 
As they came close to us, the horses grew un- 
easy, and I fired at the leader of the pack the 
moment I was sure I could make a dead shot. 
With a howl the animal jumped into the air 
and fell in the grass. His greedy companions 
began tearing him to pieces as they had done 
the ostrich. But I fired into the pack, wound- 
ing one, and the others ran away. 

We allowed the horses to rest while Juma 
made a net out of grass in which to carry 
our meat and the ostrich eggs. The beau- 
tiful ostrich feathers he tied together, and, 
putting the string around his neck, let the white 
plumes hang over his black back. 

We had traveled for several hours, and had 
come in sight of some forest trees; but we 
had lost the way to the deserted village. The 
hot sun was almost cooking me, and I felt that 
I should die of thirst. Although it was only one 
night since we had had the dreadful rain I told 
you about, all the water was soaked up by 
the sandy soil. Juma gave up all hope of find- 
ing the hut, but he said: ‘T believe here is a 
place where we can get water.’’ 

I could see no water, nor could I see any dif- 


30 


WILLIE WYLD, 


ference between the place he pointed out and 
any other part of the plain, except that it was 
much lower than the surrounding ground. 

Juma looked about until he found a hollow 
reed about two feet long. On the end of this 
he fastened a bunch of grass. Now with his 
hands he dug a hole in the sand as far as he 
could reach with his arm as he lay on the 
ground. To the bottom of the little well he 
had just dug Juma carefully worked the bunch 
of grass that was on the end of the hollow reed, 
saying as he did so that large villages in Af« 
rica were sometimes supplied with water as he 
was going to supply us. 

He told me that the village women take bags 
filled with empty ostrich egg shells to a low 
place in a sandy plain, make a little well, and 
place a hollow reed in it as he had done The 
water in the sand runs into the hole, but the 
bunch of grass on the end of the reed keeps 
the sand from stopping up the hole. The wom- 
en suck up the water through the reed into their 
mouths, then squirt it into the eggshells until 
they have them all filled. The holes in the egg- 
shells are plugged with grass stoppers, put back 
into the bags, or nets, and the water carriers 
return to the village with their water supply. 


BUILT BY SOME HUGE BIRD. 


31 


Juma now began to do what he had told me 
the women did. He sucked up mouthful aft- 
er mouthful of water and put it into our egg- 
shells. Some was given to the horses, but I 
felt that I should have to be dying from thirst 
before I could drink this water after seeing 
how the shells were filled. So I quenched my 
thirst by sucking at the reed, and found the wa- 
ter very good. 

The eggshells that Juma had filled with wa- 
ter were stopped up and put into our net. As 
we rode toward the woods, hoping to find a 
path that would lead us to some village, I saw 
in the top of one of the trees a large nest. It 
must have been built by some huge bird. At 
the same moment a shadow passed in a circle 
over the plain. Upon looking up, we saw, fly- 
ing over our heads, an immense bird. She 
paid no attention to us, and as she flew close 
to the earth we could see that she resembled 
a crane and also an eagle — a body and neck 
of a crane, but the head of an eagle. A num- 
ber of long feathers of dark color grew from 
the back and from each side of her head. They 
seemed to hang loosely, but I noticed that the 
bird could raise them and let them fall as she 
pleased. 


32 


WILLIE WYLD, 


I knew from these feathers that this was a 
secretary bird. This name was given to the 
bird because a long time ago, before there 
were any steel pens or typewriters, men called 
^^secretaries’’ used pens made from quill feath- 
ers like the ones that grew on the heads of these 



THE SECRETARY BIRD. 


birds. When a secretary had occasion to stop 
writing, he put his quill pens behind his ears ; 
and they looked so much like the feathers on 
the heads of these birds that people named 
the birds after the secretaries. 

The bird before me was about three feet 


THE SERPENT MADE A DART. 


33 


tall, with feathers of a slate gray color. On 
the ground near where she stood was a snake 
the bite of which was death to any animal, but 
she walked boldly but carefully toward the ser- 
pent. She seemed to be aware of how far the 
snake could spring, for before she got close 
enough for the serpent to strike out and bite 
her on the body she stretched toward him the 
feathered points of one of her big wings. 

As quick as a flash the serpent made a dart 
at them, sinking his fangs into the feathers. 
Of course this did not hurt the bird, and she 
provoked the snake to strike at her wing time 
and time again. The bird seemed to know 
when the serpent had used up his poison strik- 
ing and biting at her wing feathers; then, 
springing upon her enemy, she killed him and, 
taking the snake in her bill, flew away to her 
nest to feed him to her little ones. 

Juma told me that his people called the sec- 
retary bird the serpent-eater. But for them 
there would be so many snakes in parts of Af- 
rica that men could not travel without great 
danger of being killed by poisonous serpents. 

For a secretary bird flying high in the air to 
be able to see a snake on the ground, I felt 

sure he must have eyes made like those of an 
3 


34 


WILLIE WYLD. 


eagle, which have in them muscles and rings 
that give the bird power to push his eyes out 
and draw them in. In this way he can see 
small objects at a great distance, just as a man 
can with his field glasses or telescope. 

For several hours we rode in and out among 
the trees, but we had no luck in finding a trail. 
I was tired and sleepy, and ordered a halt un- 
der a beautiful shade tree. Juma was to stand 
guard while I slept. 

I was sweetly dreaming that I had found 
my father and that we were at home with 
mother, looking out of the window at the sol- 
diers marching by, when I awoke to see hun- 
dreds of negro warriors coming toward us. 
Before I could get Juma awake the negroes, 
with drawn bows and spears, had surround- 
ed us. 

My first thought was to shoot over their 
heads and scare them, but Juma prevented 
me, waving with his arms and hands to the 
officers in charge of the warriors. He came 
forward, and Juma went to meet him. By 
signs and words they understood each other. 

At last Juma returned to me and said: 
‘'Those negroes believe that you are a white 


LOOKED ON IN WONDERMENT, 35 


spirit and I am your slave. But they do not 
know whether you have come to help them 
in their wars or to help their enemies. They 
are to take us to their chief; and if his witch 
doctor says we have come to help them, we 
shall be well treated ; but should he decide that 
we are going to help their enemies, we shall be 
burned alive.’’ 

This was not pleasant news ; but if the witch 
doctor should say we must be burned alive 
and nothing happened to save us, there would 
be a good many dead negroes lying around 
before they set us on fire, for we had our two 
guns, four pistols, and plenty of balls and pow- 
der. 

Before the officers could get their men to 
march back to their king, they had to be al- 
lowed to see the white spirit. Some of the 
officers wanted to feel my clothes and pull my 
hair, but Juma told them that they might die 
if they touched me. 

Few of those negroes had ever seen a horse, 
and they looked on in wonderment when Juma 
and I mounted our animals. I was much dis- 
tressed to see several tsetse flies hovering about 
them as I mounted, for the sting or bite of this 
fly is almost sure death to a horse. For this 


36 


WILLIE WYLD, 


reason horses are seldom seen in that part of 
Africa. 

With soldiers all about us we rode off 
through the woods; and as we went farther 
into the forest, it looked as if night were upon 
us. 

In the next story you shall hear of strange 
things among the people of this new king. 



Third Evening. 

I WANT to tell you children that the Afri- 
can negro does not like to fight, hunt, or 
travel at night. So these negroes who 
had taken us prisoners built their camp fires 
but we learned that they had very little to eat. 
We were given some kind of mush, and as we 
still had some ostrich meat we made out a very 
good supper. 

Before we went to sleep Juma told me that 
he had overheard one of the negro officers 
say that their king would be pleased if they 
brought him a white spirit who could kill lions 
with thunder and lightning, as the white man 
in their enemy's country did. I could not go 
to sleep for thinking that this white man might 
be my father. 

I had long since learned that the best way 
to make African negroes respect and honor 
you is to keep them afraid of you and at the 
same time give them all the meat they can 

( 37 ) 


38 


WILLIE WYLD. 


eat. So I told Juma that at daylight he must 
find the head officer of the army and tell him 
that the white spirit wanted to feed his hun- 
gry men, and that if he would send me some 
good hunters I would kill all the animals they 
could find. As soon as the message was de- 
livered the headman came to see me, bring- 
ing several of his best hunters. 

Juma made him understand that I wanted 
to feed his men and then go with him and see 
his king. He was 
very much surprised 
when he learned that 
by myself I could kill 
all the lions, rhinos, el- 
ephants, or buffaloes 
that his men could 
drive to me. Juma 
told him that alone I 
could kill any living thing that walked upon 
the face of the earth or swam in the waters 
of the lakes and rivers; that the birds of the 
air had to drop dead at my feet whenever I 
willed that they should do so. The headman 
said that he would go with us on the hunt and 
see if all we told him was true. 

The witch doctor was sent for; and after 



AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT. 


39 


looking into his magic horn, he told me that 
if we wanted big game we must go to the 
northwest, which was in the direction of the 
great lake. Although this was many hours^ 
journey from the camp, the guides were or- 
dered to lead the way. 

I was worn out with traveling; but word 
was brought to me that a herd of springbok 
were on a marshy plain just ahead of us, and 
we should have no time to rest before the hunt 
began. We hurried on until we came to a 
marshy field, where the herd of deerlike ani- 
mals were feeding. The negroes made a long 
trip around the plain, so as to get on the far 
side of the game and drive them toward me. 
As luck would have it, the leader of the herd 
started toward the place where Juma and I 
were hidden in a clump of bushes, every animal 
in sight following him. 

On they came by leaps and bounds, mak- 
ing a beautiful sight as they gracefully moved 
over the ground. Some would jump twelve 
feet into the air; others would bound along, 
jumping as high as a man at each leap. I knew 
that if the leader passed close to us his followers 
would more than likely trample us to death, 
because they were going so fast and there 


40 


WILLIE WYLD, 


was such a great number of them crowding 
on each other that they could not stop. 

No sooner did the springbok in the lead get 
close enough for me to kill than I jumped up 
and fired. The beautiful animal leaped higher 
than ever and fell close to my feet. The one 



The springbok came by leaps and bounds. 


behind him was now so close upon us that he 
leaped over our heads and I shot him before 
he touched the ground, and Juma killed the 
third. The herd, having lost its leaders and 
being scared, was now scattering and run- 
ning in every direction over the plain; but 


I HAD NOT COME TO BE THEIR CHIEF. 41 

Juma and I killed several more of the animals 
before they got out of shooting distance. 

Even after the smoke from our guns had 
cleared, the negroes were afraid to come near 
us. It was not until Juma told them that the 
great white man wanted them to come and eat 
the meat that they would come to me. They 
looked in wonder at all the dead animals, and 
were so delighted with what I had done that 
some of them wanted to make me their chief. 
But Juma told them that this would make me 
angry, for I had come not to become their chief, 
but to visit their ruler. 

That night when we reached the camp there 
was great rejoicing among the hungry sol- 
diers when they found that we had plenty of 
meat for every one and that the white man 
had ordered that it be equally divided among 
them. They had never been given such kind 
treatment before. The custom among those 
people had been that when an animal was 
killed the chief and his head men took all the 
meat they wanted. If any remained, their peo- 
ple could divide it among themselves; but as 
the chief and head men usually wanted all the 
meat, there was none for the people. 

For several days we marched toward the 


42 


WILLIE WYLD, 


north. I was lucky enough to kill a white 
rhino, which was greatly prized by the negroes 
not only for his meat, but for the head and 
horns; These would make a present for their 
king that would be highly prized. 

We passed through many villages and saw 
many strange sights, but at last we arrived at 
the town where the king lived. We could see 
that the people were ready to receive us with 
great honor. Drums were beating, and all 
kinds of noises were being made on their mu- 
sical instruments. Amid all this din and clat- 
ter the head officers proudly marched up the 
main street of the village, followed by their 
soldiers, who were delighted with all the noise 
and display. 

This place and its people were different from 
what we had been accustomed to see in Afri- 
ca. The huts were of larger size, and every- 
thing about the place looked clean. The peo- 
ple were large, strong, and better looking than 
the negroes farther south. All the grown peo- 
ple wore clothes made of animal skins or from 
the bark of a tree that grew in that country. 

We found the king sitting cross-legged on 
the ground in front of his palace. Squatting 
behind him were his sons and brothers. His 


THE KING SHOOK HANDS WITH ME. 43 

brothers wore numbers of charms to keep away 
the evil spirits, while the children wore on 
their chins dream charms. 

The king shook hands with me in the same 
way that we do in this country and asked how 
I liked his kingdom. He was anxious to know 
how I found my way all over the world. 



THE NEGRO KING. 


I told him about the great oceans and our 
ships and the many wonderful things in our 
land. He was so pleased with me that he 
took me into his home, which was clean and 


44 


WILLIE WYLD. 


well kept. Here I saw many kinds of spears. 
Some had brass heads with iron handles, oth- 
ers had iron points with wooden handles. The 
king showed me little iron statues made to 
resemble cows and other animals. Many of 
the things I saw were mere toys, but to this 
negro king they were treasures of such great 
value that soldiers kept guard over them night 
and day. 

As a special favor the king took me to see 
his favorite wife. She was so big and fat that 
she could not get up to greet us. She was so 
large that she had to crawl about on her hands 
and knees like a big, fat baby. I learned from 
the king that his people thought the fat wom- 
en were the most beautiful; that one of his 
court ladies made all the girls of the royal fam- 
ily drink great quantities of milk from time to 
time during the day, which was done that they 
might grow up to. be as large and lovely as 
his fat wife. 

The king was anxious for me to teach him 
how to make his face white and his hair 
straight like mine. He also wanted to see me 
turn myself into a lion or an elephant and 
then come back to be a man. 

I told him I could not do such things, but 


THE MAGIC DRUM, 


45 


he would not believe me. He said that his 
father was as great as a white man, for when 
he died a lion, a leopard, and a stick came out 
of his body. I was afraid that the king might 
have me killed to see if a lion or an elephant 
would come out of my body, but he soon be- 
came so interested in telling me how he be- 
came king that he forgot about the things he 
had asked me to do. 

He told me that he had a great number of 
brothers, and upon the death of his father the 
wise men of the court had to select one of them 
to take their father’s place as king. A magic 
drum was put upon the ground, and each one 
of the brothers tried to lift it, and each one 
failed to do so. Although he was quite a lit- 
tle fellow, he lifted the drum as though it had 
been a feather. After doing this he was taken 
to a certain place in the country and seated 
on the ground. The witch doctor made a few 
signs over him, and the earth under him rose 
in a column, lifting him up until he reached 
the sky. Here the spirits took a good look at 
him. His handsome form and beautiful black 
face pleased them so well that they allowed the 
column of earth to ease down to the ground. 
Upon seeing this, the wise men declared him 


46 


WILLIE WYLD. 


king. Had the spirits not been pleased with 
his looks, the column would have fallen to the 
ground, he would have been killed, and some 
of his brothers would have taken his father’s 
place. 

I knew the king was not telling the truth 
when he told me these and many other won- 
derful tales about himself and his people, but 
to please him I had to listen to them until 
night, when his people were going to have mu- 
sic and dancing in honor of the new moon. 

As the sun went down, forty or fifty drum- 
mers assembled in the courtyard ready to 
make all the noise the king could stand. I 
think the king saw that I did not care for the 
music or dancing; and as he was not well, he 
soon sent the people away and ordered an of- 
ficer to take me to my hut. Here I found 
Juma. He had been talking with the negroes 
of the village, and had heard that some of the 
king’s officers were afraid that I would put 
what they called a spell on their king and that 
he would die. These same men were talking 
of putting to death the soldiers who had want- 
ed to make me chief ; for if the king died, these 
men would want to make me king of their 
country. 


I ACT AS DOCTOR. 


47 


Juma had also heard the negroes talk of 
a race of little black men, or Pygmies, who 
lived in the dark, gloomy forests to the north- 
west of where we were ; that in the same coun- 
try where the Pygmies were there lived a tribe 
of large people called Niam-Niams, or man- 
eaters, who lived on human flesh. He told 
me so many dreadful things about these aw- 
ful people that it made my flesh crawl and cold 
shivers run up my back. I did not go to sleep 
until late that night. 

Soon I was awakened by a messenger from 
the king, who said his master was very sick 
and that I must come and cure him. I was 
afraid the king might kill me if I sent him 
word that I knew nothing about medicine and 
could not cure him, so I followed the messen- 
ger. 

As I hurried from my hut to the king’s 
palace, I saw men and women gathered in lit- 
tle groups looking as though they thought 
something dreadful was going to happen. The 
medicine men and witch doctors, loaded down 
with charms and lucky pieces, had gone to 
the palace gate, hoping the king would send 
for one of them. I could see from the way 
they looked and acted that they were angry 
because the king had sent for me. 


48 


WILLIE WYLD, 


I found the king with a hot fever and suf- 
fering great pain. Feeling that my life de- 
pended on my doing something to relieve him 
and knowing nothing else to do, I bathed his 
head and face in cool water. This gave him 
some relief for a little while. But as I could 
not at once cure him, he sent for his medicine 
man, who ordered me out of the palace. 

That afternoon Juma came running into our 
hut to tell me that the medicine man had made 
the king and his people believe that I had 
brought bad luck to the village, that if the king 
died I would be burned as a witch, and that 
the drums would be sounded for the people to 
assemble and talk the matter over. 

I will now let you children think over what 
I have told you until our next meeting. 



Fourth Evening. 

N OW, children, I said to Juma: ‘'See 
that your gun and pistols are in good 
order, and go among the negroes to 
learn all that you can ; for as soon as 
night comes, we will try to run away from 
this place/’ 

Juma had been gone but a short time when, 
to my horror, our hut was surrounded by a 
number of savage-looking men armed with 
spears. My first thought was that Juma had 
been killed and they had come to put me to 
death. 

Hour after hour I stood in the middle of 
the hut, with my gun in readiness, listen- 
ing to every sound. I knew that if I fought 
my way out it was almost sure death, yet there 
was danger of these savages shutting me in 
the hut and setting it on fire. But I thought 
I had better stay where I was until the sol- 
diers made some move to close up the door- 
4 ( 49 ) 


50 


WILLIE WYLD, 


way or fire the hut. In the meantime some of 
the men who a few days before had wanted to 
make me their chief might come and help me to 
get away. From time to time during the day 
the drums beat, and as 
evening came on I 
heard the war drums 
and the tramp, tramp 
of many feet. I could 
not understand what it 
all meant ; but from the 
long, loud talking and 
great fuss that was 
made I knew that a 
large meeting had tak- 
en place. I waited all 
night, and at daylight 
it seemed to me that all 
the people had gath- 
ered about my hut. I 
understood from their 
talk that the white man 
was to be burned the next day as a witch who 
had brought them bad luck. 

This made my blood run cold ; for I remem- 
bered having seen where men, women, and 
children had been hung up on the limbs of 



f HAD LOST HEART, 


51 


trees over a pile of wood, which was set on 
fire to burn them to death. My only hope was 
for these people to change their minds before 
they could get me out of the hut. It requires 



I £red at the man. 


very little to make a negro change his mind, 
and I had twelve loads in my pistols and plenty 
of bullets for my rifle. All day long people 
crowded about my hut, and when evening came 
I had about lost heart. But when I thought 


52 


WILLIE WYLD, 


of my dear mother and my lost father, I 
plucked up courage and prayed that I might 
be spared the awful death that awaited me. 

The drummers no longer sounded their call 
to the warriors. Every one except a few 
guards had left my hut, and things became so 
quiet that I could hear the chirping of the in- 
sects. I wondered if the king was dead or 
if all the men had gone to war. 

As I had eaten but little during the day, 
I built a fire and cooked some meat. I had 
just eaten a piece when a man appeared in 
the doorway shouting: ^‘The king is dead! 
Come, take the white man out! The king is 
dead !’’ 

I fired at the man, and at almost the same 
moment I heard the report of a gun from the 
far side of the village. I thought it must be 
Juma fighting his way out; and hoping to' 
keep the negroes busy at my end of the vil- 
lage, I snatched a burning stick of wood from 
the fire and threw it against the dry grass wall 
of the hut. Then, with gun in hand, I ran 
out through the doorway. 

The night was dark, and I could see no 
guards; but I heard men running toward my 
hut. Another shot was fired, and this time it 


LIKE CRAZY PEOPLE. 53 

was close to me. I ran in the direction of 
the sound, keeping in the shadows. 

My hut was now in a bright blaze, and the 
wind was blowing the burning grass to the 
other huts, setting them on fire. A light ap- 
peared at the far side of the village, and the 



The village was on fire. 


huts there began to burn. By this time men, 
women, and children were running to the 
woods like crazy people. The huts were tak- 
ing fire and burning as if they had been made 
of paper. Everywhere it was as light as day, 
and I saw Juma running in the direction of 


54 


WILLIE WYLD. 



our burning house. By his side was a stran- 
ger, and following them were a number of 
negroes armed with bows, arrows, and spear^ 
To let Juma know where I was I fired niy 
pistol and ran toward him. We met beside a 
burning hut, and at the meeting all my sor- 


I see my father. 

rows and sufferings were forgotten. Never 
before in the land of Africa was there such a 
joyful meeting, for the man with Juma was 
my father ! But it was a meeting on a battle 
field, and I only had time to say, father !” 
and he to say ‘^My sonT’ For the negro sol- 
diers that my father had with him must be 


SAVED BY MY FATHER. 


55 


prevented from murdering the people and rob- 
bing the houses to which they set fire. 

I had been saved; but we must get away 
as quickly as we could, for the warriors from 
the other villages would soon be coming to 
fight us for destroying their king’s town. 

The soldiers were ordered to prepare for 
the march as soon as they had taken a little 
rest. With some of our men we hurried to 
the king’s palace, where in the largest room 
of the hut was the body of the dead king sewed 
up in a cow’s hide. Juma told us that these 
people knew nothing about coffins; that they 
prepared the dead king in this way for burial, 
as they did all their kings, but had deserted 
him upon hearing the shooting. 

It was not until the next day, when we 
were far from the burned village, that I learned 
how it happened that father had made war on 
the negro village in time to save my life. It 
seems that the king at whose palace father 
lived had been greatly annoyed by the people 
we had driven from the village. They would 
steal his stock, make war on his small villages, 
and take his people prisoners to sell them into 
slavery. The king had never been able to whip 
them, and had often wanted my father to use 


WILLIE WYLD, 


56 

his gun when he went to war with these peo- 
ple. But father would never have anything 
to do with their wars, and told the ruler that 
he must save his ammunition to protect the 
king and his village. One day word came 
to him that away to the south white men had 
been seen, and, like him, they could kill lions 
and elephants with their hot-mouthed weap- 
ons. Father told the king that these white men 
were his brothers, and that if the king would 
furnish him an army he would fight his way 
through the enemy’s country and find his rel- 
atives. 

When the warriors were ready they marched 
south, burning the villages and taking the peo- 
ple prisoners. They were preparing to burn 
the dead king’s town when Juma, who had 
made his escape from the village, brought them 
word that they must begin the war that night 
or I would be burned to death. The warriors 
were ordered at once to take the town and 
drive out the people, that I might be saved 
from an awful death. 

I told my father of my coming to Africa 
with General Kermit to hunt for Dr. Wesley 
and how I was lost from my friends. Upon 
learning this he sent for the headman of the 


THE KORWE BIRD. 


57 


warriors, telling him that they had not found 
all of the white people and that they must hunt 
for them until they did. The headman, whose 
name was Pokino, replied: ‘'All the cows, 
sheep, goats, and prisoners that I have taken 
in war must first be delivered to my king. If 
I divide my army by sending part of them with 
you, all will be in great danger from the na- 
tives while in the enemy's country." 

We had such a large number of prisoners, 
cows, goats, and sheep to guard and care for 
that the army made slow progress. As our 
horses had died from the bite of the tsetse flies, 
father and I had to walk. We marched 
through forests and over plains during the day, 
but at night we sat about the camp fire, and he 
told me stories of his wanderings in Africa 
while trying to find his way to the sea. Once, 
when he and his guides were going through a 
forest, his men began to follow a korwe bird. 
He was afraid that the bird would lead them 
so far from the path that they would lose their 
way. But he could not make them continue 
the journey until they had found the bird's 
home. 

These birds build their nests in holes that 
they find in the trunks of trees. The moth- 


58 


WILLIE WYLD. 


er bird enters the nest, and the father plasters 
the opening over with a kind of clay or cement. 
He does this in such a way that she cannot 
get out, but a slit is left through which to 
feed her. The mother remains in this prison 
and hatches her young, the father caring for 
them during two or three months. If food is 
not plentiful, the father sometimes dies of hun- 
ger, because he gives all the food he can find 
to his family; but the mother bird gets so fat 
while in the prison nest that the negroes are 
always on the hunt for them. 

He expressed his surprise at the beautiful 
fields and gardens that he saw around the ne- 
gro villages in some parts of the country. 
Growing in the gardens were bananas, plan- 
tains, yams, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, figs, 
tomatoes, vegetable marrow, and many va- 
rieties of beans, peas, and melons. It was in 
some of these gardens that he found the larg- 
est and finest peanuts that are grown in the 
world. The natives call them ground nuts. 
In these fields grew also wheat, rice, maize, 
corn, millet, cotton, and a kind of tobacco. In 
fact, some of the negroes have in their fields 
and gardens almost everything that a white 
man has at home, and they raise many other 


THE SOKO. 


59 


things that are not seen growing in any coun- 
try but Africa. 

Father told me that in his wanderings he 
had been to the country of the sokos. But I 
will tell you about them at our next meeting. 



Fifth Evening. 

C HILDREN, I know you are anxious 
for me to tell you about the sokos that 
my father found in Africa. These 
strange creatures are more like men than the 
gorilla or any other animal. They belong to 
the chimpanzee family, and walk erect with 
their hands clasped over the top of their heads, 
as if to steady themselves as they walk. When 
the soko stands up and walks along through 
the grass, barking like 
a fox hound, he would 
make a good picture of 
a devil. His ears are 
very long, his fore- 
head low, while on his 
light, yellow - colored 
face he has a growth 
of ugly whiskers. His 
jaws are like those of 
a dog, while his teeth are like a man's teeth, 



SOKOS STEAD CHILDREN, 


6i 


with the exception of the canine or dog teeth, 
which are very large. Another remarkable 
thing about this animal is the little difference 
in the appearance of his fingers and those of 
the native negro. 

The sokos live in what we might call little 
villages, ten or fifteen to the village, and each 
family has its own home. The sokos living in 
one village will not allow one from another vil- 
lage to come among them. Should one un- 
dertake to do so, those living in the village 
will beat him with their fists and amid loud 
yells run him away. 

He is not a savage animal, but sometimes 
he will creep upon a man and catch hold of 
him. If the man does not hurt him, he will 
turn him loose and go away grinning and 
giggling. They are very fond of children, and 
are so smart that while the men and women 
are at work in the fields they steal upon the 
children, catch one, and run up a tree with it. 
The soko loves to hold the child in his arms 
and play with it. The only way the negro 
mother can get back her little one without its 
being hurt is to get a bunch of bananas and 
place it where the soko can see it. As the 
animal is very fond of bananas, he will come 


62 


WILLIE WYLD. 


down from the tree with the child in his arms 
to get the fruit. But when he finds that he 
cannot carry both the bananas and child and 
that the child will not cling to him as his 
own would do, he drops the child and takes 



THE SOKO STEALING A CHILD. 


the bunch of fruit that he loves better than 
the little negro. 

The soko is not so powerful as the leopard 
or the lion, and he does not know how to use 
his strong canine teeth like a gorilla. He eats 
no flesh and never kills an animal for food, nor 
does he try to kill his enemies. Even in his 
fights with the leopard he merely disables the 


MAN-EATING MEN. 


63 


animal by biting its paws; but as the leopard 
is then unable to procure food, he soon dies. 
The lion is more than a match for the smart 
and cunning soko, for in a fight the lion will 
kill and tear him to pieces. But if we are to 
believe the natives, he will not eat its flesh. 

The negroes are very fond of soko meat, 
and say that, while it is all good, there is no 
part of him so delicious as his yellow feet. 

The negroes in the soko country are canni- 
bals, or man-eating men. Not only do they 
eat the prisoners they have taken in war, aft- 
er fattening them, but they eat their dead. 
They say that should one of their people die 
in another country and be buried, he would 
come out of his grave as a soko; therefore the 
soko was as much of a man as they, but not 
so mean. Although these cannibals talk in 
this way, they hunt and kill the soko without 
mercy. 

Once father was in a hunt with these ne- 
groes when a number of sokos came near the 
camp. But if they had not barked like fox 
hounds on a trail the negroes would not have 
known they were so near to them. The hunt- 
ers at once stretched a net around part of the 
grove of trees and then set fire to the high 


64 


WILLIE WYLD, 


grass and drove the animals into the trap, the 
hunters closing in on them from the opposite 
side of the net. As one of the men was about 
to strike a soko the animal grabbed the spear 
away from the negro, broke it, bit off the ne- 
gro’s fingers, spat them out, and got away. 



The soko bites off the man’s lingers. 


Another hunter succeeded in spearing a soko, 
but the animal was so strong that he got away 
with the spear sticking in him. He ran a short 
distance, pulled the spear out of his body, and 
stuffed leaves in the wound to stop the flow 


HAD NO BABY CARRIAGE, 


65 


of blood; but the animal was so badly wound- 
ed that another hunter ran his spear through 
him, killing him at once. 

At certain times during the year all the so- 
kos in the surrounding country will meet and 
make so much noise drumming on hollow trees 
and yelling that no one wants to be in the 
same neighborhood with them. After these 
parties break up the father and mother have 
to take turn about in carrying the children 
home, as the sokos have no baby carriages for 
the children to ride in. 

As we traveled northward, not a day passed 
that I did not ask father something about the 
sokos. But when we reached Pokino’s village, 
I almost forgot that there was such a thing as 
a soko ; for we heard of a party of travelers far 
to the north of us who had a white man for 
their chief. We were now among friends, and 
there was no reason why Pokino could not 
send the prisoners and cattle to his king and 
with his army assist us in finding the white 
man, who I felt sure was my friend General 
Kermit. 

But Pokino would not consent to go, for, 
like all his people, he was full of vanity. He 
wanted to be pointed out as the great man 
5 


66 


WILLIE WYLD, 


of the occasion, in delivering to the king the 
prisoners and cattle that the army had cap- 
tured. 

While trying to think out some way to get 
Pokino to go with us, it occurred to me that 
the name of General Kermit’s cook, Queeny, 
was Pokino. This man might be her husband. 
After asking him a few questions, I was sure 
of it. 

Knowing that the negroes thought a white 
man could do almost anything, I said: ‘To- 
kino, if you will go with us at once, I will 
take you to your favorite wife. You have 
thought her dead, but she is not; your wife 
was sold into slavery. The white man to the 
north of us got her away from the Arabs, and 
has been trying to get her back to you; but 
the mean negroes who live in that part of Af- 
rica will not let him come to your country.’’ 

When I told Pokino all about his wife — 
how she looked and of her being sold into slav- 
ery — he thought I must be a great spirit to 
know so much. He asked me many questions, 
all of which I answered to his satisfaction. 
He had been told that his wife had been sto- 
len by the Arabs, and that they had put her 
to death because she had tried to get away. 


NOT ALLOWED TO EAT WITH US. 67 

But when he learned the truth from me, 
his rage knew no bounds. He stamped the 
ground like an angry child, and, running about 
the camp, he acted like a madman. He told his 
officers what he had heard, and they began jab- 
bing their spears into the ground. From the 
way they acted I knew that these men were 
anxious to assist their chief in finding his wife 
and in punishing his enemies. 

Pokino ordered some of his men to take the 
prisoners and the cattle to his king. Scouts, 
spies, and messengers were sent ahead of us 
with orders to send back any news they could 
get of the white man. The other soldiers were 
ordered to get in readiness for the march. 

In a few hours we were on our way toward 
the country of Uganda. Father and I camped 
together; and although Juma cooked our food, 
we never allowed him to eat with us. Strange 
as it may seem, we never invited even the chief 
or any of his officers to dine with us, nor did 
we ever accept an invitation to dine with them ; 
for the white men in Africa had learned that, 
should a white man dine with the natives, they 
would consider themselves on an equality with 
him and have no further respect for his 
color. In this case the white man loses his 


68 


WILLIE WYLD. 


power over them, which puts his life in great 
danger. 

The country through which we passed was 
not so rough as some sections we had seen in 
Africa; and being in Pokino’s country, we 
could travel very fast, as we had no fear of 
the natives. Although our soldiers robbed the 
people in the villages through which we passed, 
these poor negroes had to treat us with the 
greatest respect, because our men were the 
king’s soldiers and the law allowed them to 
rob the natives of anything that they could 
find to eat. 

At one village near where we camped the 
negroes were drumming, singing, and yelling 
all night. They said they were doing this to 
drive away a devil that had come among them. 

The next day, when we were miles from 
the village and had halted for dinner, I saw 
suspended from the limb of a tree a bird’s nest 
which was beautifully woven into a bottlelike 
form. 

While we were at dinner a bird with light 
and dark brown feathers on her wings and with 
gray and white feathers on the under surface 
of her body flew into the nest. In a few min- 
utes another bird like the one in the nest came 


A STRANGE BIRD. 


69 

and began making a great fuss by calling 
‘‘Cherr! Cherr!” and alighted in a tree close 
by. He would fly down at us and call ''Cherr ! 
Cherr!’’ and then fly back to the tree. I 
thought he wanted us to get away from his 
nest; but father said the bird was called the 
great honey guide, and that he belonged to the 
cuckoo family. This name had been given to 
the bird because he is very fond of bees and 
honey, and he will 
guide men to where 
a bee tree can be 
found. 

This bird was try- 
ing to get us to fol- 
low him that he 
might guide us to the honey guide. 
some hollow tree, which we would find full 
of honey. He cannot always be depended upon 
to guide you to a bee tree; for he sometimes 
takes men to where there is a snake or a lion 
that he wants the men to kill, because he does 
not like these creatures. 

As soon as we could, father, Juma, and I 
began to follow the honey guide, which flew 
from tree to tree. Sometime I will tell you 
where our bird led us. 




Sixth Evening. 

OW, children, the honey guide that I 
was telling you about flew from tree 
to tree, leading us farther and far- 
ther into the forest. As we did not want to 
get lost from our army, we were about to turn 
back when the bird lit upon a tree and chirped 
and chirped as though he had found some- 
thing. He would not leave the tree, and we 
began to hunt for bees. We were not long in 
finding where they went in and out of the tree 
hive. The tree being hollow, we had no trou- 
ble in cutting it down. This caused a great 
excitement among the bees, but the honey 
guide showed his delight beyond measure as 
he caught and ate the little honey-makers. 

The amount of honey in the bee tree was 
so great that we could not carry one-third of 
it away with us. We intended to send some 
of the soldiers to get what we had left; but 
upon leaving the bee tree and not having any 

(70) 



WHERE PYGMIES LOVE TO LIVE. 71 

bird to guide us, we took the wrong direction, 
and instead of going toward our friends we 
went deeper into the dark forest. It was so 
dark and lonesome that father said: 'It is in 
such places as this that the African dwarfs, 
or Pygmies, love to live.'’ 

Before we had gone far he pointed out to 
me the flickering light of little fires that were 
some distance from us. "Stop,” he said. "I 
believe that is a camp of the little people. If 
we can creep upon them, we may get a chance 
to see the creatures and see what they are do- 
ing.” 

We were talking over the best way to go 
when we saw Pokino and some of his soldiers 
come out of the bushes. He had become un- 
easy because we remained away so long, and 
had tracked us to see what had detained us. 

We told him that we had missed the trail, 
and instead of going toward the army we were 
about to find a camp of dwarfs. "Where is 
it?” asked Pokino. "I should like to catch a 
few of these little people and send them to my 
king, for I could not make him a present that 
would please him better.” 

Pokino ordered his men to surround the 
camp, surprise the little people, and catch as 


72 


WILLIE WYLD. 


many of them as they could. Father would 
have nothing to do with treating these little 
beings so cruelly, and we remained where we 
were. 

The negro soldiers crawled in the direction 
of the camp while we sat there under the tree. 
Father told me that the people of other coun- 
tries at that time did not believe there was a 
race of little people in Africa. However, long 
before the time of Christ the people of South- 
ern Europe must have known about them, for 
some of the early story-writers said: ‘The 
cranes fly to the lakes above Egypt, from 
which flows the Nile. Here they fight with 
the Pygmies, who live in caves and ride small 
ponies.’^ 

Father had never seen the Pygmies that live 
in caves or those who rode small horses, but 
he had often heard that in a certain part of 
Africa there were Pygmies that were covered 
with hair and had tails. As he could not rely 
on the negroes for the truth, he did not be- 
lieve what they said about the little people 
with tails. But he had seen these little naked, 
wild-eyed creatures with features resembling 
those of the young chimpanzee. “They roam 
through the dark forest,’’ said he, “and live 


''REr "ri: 


73 


in little huts built of grass and leaves. Al- 
though their houses are not much better than 
those made by the gorilla, these little people 
know how to make a fire by the use of the 
flint rock and dry moss. In their fires they 
roast their nuts, and over them they smoke 
and dry fish, cook snakes, rats, mice, and oth- 
er meats on which they live. These dwarfs 
have little villages, or camps, and will not al- 
low a stranger from another dwarf camp to 
come among them. Their faces are about the 
same color as that of a young chimpanzee, 
but the palms of their hands are as white as 
those of the white man. They look at you 
from gray, hazel, or black eyes, but their lips 
are as thick and their noses as flat as those of 
the black African. When they talk it sounds 
as though they said ‘Ya,^ ‘Ye,' ‘Yo,' ‘Oua,' 
‘Ke,' ‘Ki,' ‘Re,' ‘Ri.' They cannot count above 
ten; but they can sing and dance to the mu- 
sic of their tom-toms, and seem as happy-go- 
lucky as other negroes." 

The babies my father saw were tiny little 
things, and the mothers carried them in swings 
made of straps that were hung from their 
shoulders. 

These people never have fields or gardens 


74 


WILLIE WYLD, 


in which to grow things to eat ; but if food be- 
comes scarce about their camp, like the go- 
rilla, these little people move to another part 
of the forest, where nuts, berries, rats, mice, 
snakes, and other things are easy to get. 

Unlike the gorilla and many of the negro 
tribes, these little people bury their dead, but 
bury them as no other people do. When one 
dies, great sorrow is shown by his friends in 
and about the camp ; but search is at once made 
for a hollow tree. If a large one be found, the 
dead body is put in the hollow, which is then 
filled with earth and dry leaves and covered 
over with twigs of the tree. If a hollow tree 
cannot be found, they search out a little stream 
of water and either dam it or turn its course. 
In the bed of the stream they dig a hole and 
bury the body, after which the water is turned 
back into its old channel to flow over the grave. 
It is supposed that they do this to keep the 
man-eaters from finding the body of their dead 
relatives. 

There are many tribes of these dwarfs that 
roam the forests of Africa. The people of 
each tribe are somewhat different from the 
others in their size, make-up, and the way in 
which they live. For that reason father was 


AFRAID WE WOULD EAT THEM, 75 

anxious to see what kind of dwarfs these were 
that we had found. 

He soon had his curiosity satisfied; for the 
soldiers had made a raid on the camp, captur- 
ing several men, women, and children. Po- 
kino came back with the captives to where we 
were. He was laughing at the strange lit- 
tle creatures as they waddled along. He was 
delighted that he could send to his king a pres- 
ent that he knew would be received with such 
great pleasure. The little prisoners were 
about the size of a ten-year-old boy; theirf 
skin was of a dull, dark brown color; their 
hair was of about the same color as their skin, 
and it reminded one of matted tow. 

The little strangers were scared almost to 
death, for they did not know but that we would 
kill and eat them. But I had to laugh at them ; 
for the snoutlike projection of their jaws, the 
large, thick lips, with a gaping mouth, made 
them look like apes. They had large heads, 
stringy necks, and huge ears. In fact, there 
was nothing about these dwarfs that was well 
formed except their hands. These were beau- 
tiful when compared to the hands of the native 
negro. 

With our prisoners we hurried back to join 


WILLIE WYLD, 


76 

the army. Pokino could not at once send the 
dwarfs to his king, so I had the opportunity 
of being with them for some time. They were 
very timid when large men were about, but 



CAPTURED PYGMIES. 

by nature they were wicked and cruel. They 
took a great delight in spearing or shooting 
arrows into our animals just to see them suf- 
fer. They were as cunning and sly as they 


COULD JUMP LIKE GRASSHOPPERS. 77 

could be, and Juma said that it was this cun- 
ning that made them the best of hunters and 
trappers; and so expert were they in the use 
of the bow and arrow that they killed ele- 
phants by shooting them in the eye. Because 
of their great skill as hunters many of the Af- 
rican kings keep armies of them for the hunt. 
Other kings keep a few of these little people 
at their palaces to act the fool and amuse them 
with the ugly faces they can make and their 
wonderful, nimble dancing and jumping. Our 
soldiers had many a good laugh at the antics 
of these little people, and would sometimes ex- 
claim: ‘'O, they can jump like grasshoppers!” 

It was wonderful to me how nimble these 
dwarfs were; for their feet were turned in- 
ward, making them pigeon-toed to such an 
extent that they waddled in walking. They 
were always looking for a chance to get away, 
but their guards kept such a close watch on 
them that they were unable to make their es- 
cape. 

I should have liked to help these little crea- 
tures get away from Pokino, but I dared not 
do so. But one dark night, when we were 
camping in a forest, to our surprise two lions 
rushed into our camp. The soldiers were so 


78 


WILLIE WYLD, 



confused that some ran, and others gathered 
in groups to defend themselves with their 
spears. One of the lions carried away a man 
guarding the Pygmies. The other guards 
took fright and ran. It was daylight before 
Pokino got his men and camp in order, but 
the Pygmies had gone. You may know that 


Two lions rushed into our camp. 

they were in a hurry to get away, for they 
did not come to tell me good-by. 

For the Pygmies’ sake I was glad they es- 
caped; but it was bad on the guards, as Po- 
kino ordered their heads cut off for running 
away from their duty. 

After this our army moved north rapidly. 


TO THE COUNTRY OF UGANDA. 79 

Some days we would make long marches with- 
out any trouble; but at other times we would 
have to fight roving bands of robbers or the 
natives, who did not want us to go through 
their country. 

Weeks of hard marching brought us to the 
country of Uganda. The Emperor, or king, 
of this country was the most powerful ruler 
of that part of Africa, and Pokino dared not 
take his army into this country unless the Em- 
peror gave him permission. 

Pokino had given up all hope of seeing his 
wife, and was now as anxious to return home 
as he had been to commence the search. But 
father persuaded him to send a message to 
the emperor of Uganda and tell him that some 
white men wanted to visit him. 

When Pokino had agreed to do this, he told 
us that he did not expect to see any of the mes- 
sengers again, feeling sure they would be 
killed before they ever reached the Emperor. 
As soon as the messengers were ofif on their 
journey we set about building a camp that we 
might live in comfort until we should receive 
some news of General Kermit or get a mes- 
sage from the Emperor. 

We had been in camp but a few days when 


So 


WILLIE WYLD, 


one morning a messenger came in to say that 
the white man to the north of us had heard 
that his white brothers were following him, 
and he was then coming in the direction of 
our camp. This was good news, and day aft- 
er day we anxiously awaited the arrival of 
our friends. Juma and I would go out ev- 
ery day to see what we could find in the woods, 
and one day, when some distance from camp, 
we saw some snow-white monkeys playing 
about in the trees. Juma said that we must 
kill some of them, as their skin was used by 
the king and members of his royal family. 
He knew that nothing would please the Em- 
peror of Uganda better than a present of 
white monkey skins. 

I discovered that these white monkeys were 
very cunning and sly, and we had chased them 
some distance before I got a shot at one. For- 
tunately, Juma also killed one. The other mon- 
keys disappeared as suddenly as if they had 
been spirits, and we were unable to see where 
they went. 

It was now late in the day. As we had 
come away from the camp expecting to re- 
turn in a short time, we had brought no lunch, 
so Juma skinned one of the monkeys and cooked 


IT WAS DARK. 8i 

it for our dinner. We did not get back to 
camp until it was dark. Here we found good 
news awaiting us. 

I think I have told you enough for this 
time. At our next meeting you shall learn 
what the good news was. 

6 



Seventh Evening. 

C HILDREN, the good news was that the 
Emperor of Uganda not only wanted 
to have the white men visit him, but 
he was sending a number of his officers and 
men to protect us from danger and guide us 
to his palace. 

This good news, however, was soon fol- 
lowed by messengers coming to tell us that 
the white man and his people were not al- 
lowed to leave a village where they had re- 
mained all night. They were held there as 
prisoners because the witch doctor told the 
chief that the white man had put a spell on the 
clouds so that they could not rain, and for this 
reason the crops were being ruined by the dry 
weather. 

As Pokino now had permission to enter 
Uganda with his army, orders were given to 
prepare to march, for the white man’s life 
must be saved. We were soon hurrying along 
(82) 


FISH, BUT NO WATER, 


83 


the path under the big forest trees; but be- 
fore night we came to a plain covered with 
a jungle of brier bushes and tall, rank grasses. 
We went into camp before entering this plain, 
for there was danger of this grass taking fire 
and roasting us alive if we should undertake 
to do our cooking in such a place. 

It was a long, hot trip that we had before 
us, but by the afternoon of the next day we 
arrived at a point on the plain that was bare 
of grass and bushes. This place had at one 
time been a small lake, but had recently dried 
up. Although our men were tired out and I 
was almost dead, they insisted on marching 
to the lowest point in this barren field to get 
the fish that could be found there. I thought 
that this was all foolishness, for how could 
they get fish where there was no water? But 
the men ran forward to where the ground 
was damp and marshy. Here with their hands 
or spears they began to dig into the wet earth. 
They soon dug up a number of balls that 
looked to me to be nothing but round pieces 
of mud, but when broken open in each one was 
a live fish that was quickly cleaned and put 
upon the fire to cook for our dinner. 

Father told me that fish like these were of- 


84 


WILLIE WYLD. 


ten found in African lake beds; that when the 
fish felt the lake was becoming dry they made 
a ball of mud around themselves and lived 


there until rain fell 
and filled the lake 
with water. He had 
hoped we would find 
enough water to 
drink and to supply 
us for a while on our 
journey, but we did 
not find even a small 
pool. I was fam- 
ished for a drink. 
The hot sun had blis- 
tered my back, and I 
felt that I could not 
travel any farther ; 



FISH THAT CAN LIVE UNDER THE 
GROUND. 


but we had no time to rest after eating our 
fish, and Pokino ordered two of his men to 
carry me. 

Upon being lifted from the ground, I saw 
to the north of us a beautiful section of coun- 
try. The hills were green with grass. Wa- 
terfalls glistened and sparkled and splashed 
in the sunlight as it rushed over cliffs and 
bluffs to a lake in the valley. The trees were 


THE AIR PICTURE, 


85 


full of delicious-looking fruit, while cows and 
sheep grazed in the pleasant shade. At the 
edge of this beautiful strip of country I saw 
what I took to be a white man looking toward 
us. This sight made me forget my tired con- 
dition, and, jumping down, I ran in the direc- 
tion of the man. It all looked so close that 
I thought I would soon quench my thirst and 
enjoy the shade of the lovely trees. I must 
have run a long way and very fast, for father 
could not overtake me; yet I got no nearer to 
the beautiful country. The farther I traveled, 
the farther it was away. Then slowly the 
man disappeared among the trees, the water 
went off into mist, the trees and hills melted 
away into air, and the grass seemed to turn 
into the heat waves that float and shimmer 
over dry, hot places. In wonder and amaze- 
ment I stopped until father overtook me. I 
asked if he thought I had been out of my 
mind with fever. ‘‘No, we all saw the cool- 
looking, beautiful country that you tried to 
reach; but we knew it was nothing but an air 
picture, called a mirage. These air pictures,'’ 
he said, “are often seen on the low, hot plains 
of Africa; but the one that has just disap- 
peared was the most perfect that I ever saw. 


86 


WILLIE WYLD. 


and it would deceive anybody who had never 
seen one/' 

By some of the men helping me from time 
to time, we arrived that evening at a place 
where there was a forest of large trees, and 
the welcome chill of night soon came over the 
country. Our camp fires had not been burning 
a great while when a scout came in with the 
message that the village where the white man 
had been held prisoner was but a few miles 
from us. The messenger stated that he could 
not get a chance to speak to the white man be- 
cause there was such great excitement in the 
village and they kept such a close watch on the 
prisoners. 

We got Pokino to order his men to march 
with us for an attack on the village; but the 
roar of a lion near the camp scared them, 
and they refused to leave the camp fires. I 
feared that the white man, whom I hoped was 
General Kermit, might be in as much danger 
as I had once been, and something must be 
done to save him from death by the foolish ne- 
groes. With some of our glass beads I hired 
several men who were braver than the oth- 
ers to go with us; but upon starting to leave 
the camp, a sound came from the woods as 


/ FIRED MY GUN, 


87 


of men or animals running through the bush- 
es. Some of Pokino’s men, thinking it might 
be lions or buffaloes, made themselves safe by 
climbing trees; others stood with us, prepared 
to fight whatever it might be. 

On came the footsteps until by our firelight 
we saw men run out of the underbrush and 
come toward our camp. I fired my gun into 
the air, hoping to stop them ; but my shot was 
returned, and we knew that the white man had 
made his escape from the village and was com- 
ing to our camp. These men were being close- 
ly followed by an army of negroes, and we 
had not more than time to show that we were 
friendly to the newcomers before we had to 
fight for our lives. 

The battle was quickly over; for the ne- 
groes who had been chasing the white man 
could not understand where all the thunder, 
lightning, and lead drops came from. Being 
thus surprised and frightened, they ran back, 
Pokino’s men chasing them. 

We had been so occupied in driving back 
our enemies that I did not have time to see 
the white man. 

But there was great rejoicing when we gath- 
ered about the camp fires, for our newcomers 


88 


WILLIE WYLD. 


were General Kermit and his party. The Gen- 
eral told me that he had made a long hunt for 
me after we were separated; but hearing that 
a white man had been burned as a witch and 
thinking it was I, he had pushed on to the 
north. But having heard later that a white 
man was south of him, he had turned back for 
another search, when he was held as a pris- 
oner in the village from which he had just 
made his escape. 

Every one was happy except Queeney, who 
told me that she did not want to leave us and 
go back with her husband to be badly treat- 
ed and abused by him. ‘‘He has become such 
a great man now,’’ she said, “that, should I 
do one thing that he did not like, he would 
have my head cut off. I never knew what 
kindness was until I saw your people. With 
my people there is nothing but cruelty and 
murder. In my country women are thought 
to be no better than dogs, and are not treat- 
ed as well by their husbands as the favorite 
hounds. Do you know,” Queeney said to me, 
“that the men buy their wives from fathers 
who trade their daughters off for cows or an- 
imal skins? When a man buys a woman for 
his wife, he at once puts her to work to culti- 


MEN DRAG HER ALONG, 89 

vate his fields. As soon as a man can buy 
enough wives to support him, he is considered 
to be a rich man. He will quit working and 
do nothing but fight, smoke, drink beer, and 
whip his wives when they do not do as much 
work as he thinks they should.’^ 

I knew that Queeney was telling the truth 
about the negro men, but we could do nothing 
to help her. She was now to Pokino what a 
new doll would be to a child, and it would be 
as useless to try to buy her from him as to 
buy the child’s new doll. 

With a few days’ rest. General Kermit and 
his men were in condition to travel; and as we 
expected the arrival of the Emperor’s soldiers 
at any time, we had everything in readiness 
to march to the palace of the black Emperor of 
Uganda. 

Pokino’s provisions were giving out; and 
having no invitation to visit the Emperor, he 
was anxious to go home. So we decided to 
try to reach the capital of Uganda with our 
little band of men. These arrangements 
pleased every one but Queeney, who refused 
to go with her husband; but Pokino ordered 
some of his soldiers to tie her hands and put 
a rope around her neck and drag her along 


90 


WILLIE WYLD, 


with them. He had been gone only a few 
hours, and we were just leaving camp when 
one of the Emperor’s messengers came to say 
that his officers were but a short distance away, 
and that he had come to lead us to them. 

We were received at their camp with all 



POKONO TAKING HIS WIFE HOME. 


the honor that could be shown us, and on our 
march to the capital city the officers and men 
treated us with marked respect. We found 
that their people were superior to other Afri- 
can tribes. The men were all strong, tall, and 
well built. Their spears, bows, and other im- 
plements of war were better than any we had 


KILLED ONE THOUSAND NATIVES. 91 

ever seen in Africa, and their skill in the use 
of them was far beyond that of other negro 
tribes. The soldiers wore clothes the cloth of 
which had been made from the bark of a tree 
that grew in their country. Their officers had 
uniforms made from the skins of animals. 

These soldiers had been delayed in reach- 
ing us because they had gone out of their way 
to plunder and rob the native villages. The 
natives, knowing that it meant death for them 
to protect their property from the Emperor’s 
men, always ran to the woods and let the sol- 
diers take everything they wanted. 

But the Emperor, thinking the long delay 
in our coming to see him was caused by the 
natives keeping his army from finding us, had 
one thousand of the poor natives put to death. 
He had two reasons for killing all these peo- 
ple. One was, he wanted to teach the natives 
that his orders must not be interfered with; 
and the other was, he desired to show us that 
he was such a great and powerful ruler that 
he could have any number of people killed in 
honor of a visit from a white man. In Af- 
rica, when a negro king wanted to show a 
guest his pleasure over the visit, he would 
have several of his servants or wives behead- 


92 


WILLIE WVLD, 


ed in honor of the visitor; and the greater 
the king the larger the number of people who 
had their heads cut off. We were now con- 
sidered the Emperor’s guests, and it was 
against the law for a native to look at us. 
Should one do so, he would be put to death. 
As a result of this, when the villagers heard 
that we were coming, they all ran to the woods, 
leaving their huts and fields to be robbed by our 
men. 

As we marched through the wonderful 
country of Uganda, we found the villages 
clean; and although the houses were made of 
grass and leaves, they were well built. We 
marched through large, well-cultivated fields 
and gardens, where grew the most splendid 
crops of cotton, tobacco, and everything that 
was required as food. But of all the things 
which most interested General Kermit, was 
the great sea of water called Victoria Nyanza, 
the largest body of fresh water in the world. 

As we neared the Emperor’s village, 'we 
found that roads had been built from the pal- 
ace town to other villages, a thing that we 
had seen in no other part of Africa. 

With good roads to travel on, we soon ar- 
rived in sight of the capital city of Uganda, 


NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER. 93 

which, when compared to other African towns, 
was a magnificent sight. The city was built 
upon a hill, and the huts were larger than 
any we had seen. Although the Emperor had 
been so very impatient to see us, when we 
arrived at the gates of his city he would not 
allow us to enter. 

Children, I think this is story enough for 
this time, but at our next meeting I will tell 
you about that terrible Emperor of Uganda. 



Eighth Evening. 

W ELL, children, when we were not at 
once allowed to see the Emperor of 
Uganda, General Kermit told the 
Emperor’s officers that we would march on 
and not see him. The officers begged us not 
to do so, as the Emperor would get angry and 
not allow us to travel through his country. 

Juma told us that these vain negro kings 
made all visitors remain waiting to show how 
much power they had — that sometimes they 
would require a stranger to remain outside 
the palace gate for a month before seeing him. 

But the next day we were pleased to re- 
ceive word from this ruler that he would see 
us. On our way to the palace a band of mu- 
sicians, wearing long-haired goatskins, passed 
by us, and their dancing as they went along re- 
minded us of trained bears. 

We found the Emperor seated on his throne 
in the royal hut. He was a tall young man 

(94) 


WE LOOKED AT EACH OTHER, 


95 


with his hair cut short excepting on the top, 
where it was roached up into a high ridge from 
front to back, so as to look like a rooster’s 
comb. He had rings on his fingers and rings 
on his toes. For a handkerchief he held a 
piece of gold-embroidered silk. This he used 
to hide his big mouth whenever he laughed. 
By his side was a white dog, a spear, a shield, 
and a woman. Seated on the ground about 
him were his wives, his officers, and his wom- 
en sorcerers, or witch doctors. 

We sat there for an hour looking at each 
other, when he sent one of his men to ask us 
if we had seen him. He then got up, and with 
his spear in one hand and leading the white 
dog by a string, he walked away. In walk- 
ing he imitated a lion, for he thought this made 
liiin look very grand. 

The next day this ruler sent to us for some 
powder and balls to use in guns that some 
travelers had given him a year before we 
reached his country. 

He was not on his throne when we arrived 
at his hut; but he soon came in, trying to 
walk like a lion and leading his little white 
dog. Upon making his appearance all the 
chief men and all those who had business 


96 


WILLIE WYLD, 


with him threw themselves down with their 
faces upon the earth. The musicians kept up 
a great roar with their drums and other in- 
struments. The first thing the Emperor did 
was to order one of the officers put to death 
because he did not fall upon the ground in 
precisely the way that his court rules required. 
After this he looked at the men and women 
whom his chiefs had taken in war and had 
brought to him as presents. These he gave to 
his officers and soldiers. One of his men com- 
plaining because he was given but one wom- 
an, the Emperor ordered his officers to behead 
him on the spot. 

One of his soldiers was brought before him 
and accused of being a coward. Without hear- 
ing a word from the poor soldier, he ordered 
that he should be put to death by being bored 
through and through with red-hot irons. 

And so the awful hours passed until, with- 
out a parting word, this negro ruler left the 
hut. The next day the Emperor invited us to 
bring some powder and balls and go hunting 
with him. We did not want to go, but we 
were afraid to make him angry; and march- 
ing to the palace, we were joined by this blood- 
thirsty man. 


RATHER BE WHITE THAN KING, 97 

Not finding any game to kill, the king got 
impatient to shoot at something; and as the 
negroes think a woman is no better than any 
other animal, he would shoot at every worn- 
an who was so unlucky as to be passing 
through the woods. 

The Emperor was very anxious for us to 
remain in his city as his visitors, for he sent 
us an abundance of food every day. But we 
were as anxious to get out of his country, hav- 
ing now been so long on our journey that we 
feared our relatives and friends would con- 
clude that we were dead. 

But we could not depart from Uganda with- 
out the Emperor’s consent, having to depend 
upon him to furnish soldiers and guides for 
our journey. From day to day he would prom- 
ise to do this, always putting it off until to- 
morrow, hinting that he wanted us to teach 
him how he could make himself white and make 
his hair straight, for, he said, white men knew 
how to do these things. It seemed to me that 
these negro rulers had rather be white and 
have straight hair than be kings. 

At last, when he found that we could not 
or would not do what he asked, he sent us 
guides, soldiers, and provisions to go on our 
7 


98 


WILLIE WYLD. 


journey. As we marched north through this 
beautiful country of Uganda, our army robbed 
all the villages we passed through, as was their 
privilege. There was no necessity for this, as 
we could procure all the food we wanted by kill- 
ing some of the many wild animals that roamed 
through the woods and over the plains. 

We saw many wonderful things while on this 
journey. But the most interesting sight to 
every one was Ripon Falls, which is an outlet 
to Lake Victoria Nyanza and forms the head- 
waters of the River Nile. The sight was one 
that would enchant you as if in a fairy king- 
dom or make you believe that you were in the 
land of the hobgoblins. On the one hand were 
the beautiful fields, trees, grasses, and flowers. 

In the trees were pret- 
ty, graceful birds, 
while beautiful butter- 
flies made their homes 
among the flowers. 
On the other hand 

were the falls, roaring 

like awful thunder, 

with rusty crocodiles 

and huge hippopotami lazily moving about in 

the waters of the lake. 



THE ELEPHANT HUNT. 


99 


But we had no time to enjoy the beauties 
and grandeur of the falls, but had to march 
as rapidly as we could to a point on the Nile 
where the Emperor promised to have boats to 
take us down the river. After leaving the 
falls, General Kermit, Juma, and I had walked 
a little faster than the others, and came upon 
a most remarkable sight. On a plain in front 
of us were hundreds of elephants feeding on 
the high grass. We could not miss getting a 
shot at some of them ; so we selected as a place 
to hide a big rock with a little tree growing 
by it. 

General Kermit and Juma hid in the grass 
near the rock, while I got on the far side of 
the rock from them and hid in a scrubby tree. 
We had not more than reached this place when 
five elephants marched toward the rock. Be- 
fore they got close enough for a ball to kill, 
Juma fired and hit one of the huge animals. 
This made the wounded elephant mad, and he 
charged at once, the others following. The 
General and Juma continued to fire, but on 
came the elephants. Two were badly wound- 
ed, which only checked their speed. In anoth- 
er moment they would be upon my friends un- 
less they killed them. To kill five elephants in 


lOO 


WILLIE WYLD. 


a minute was not to be thought of, so General 
Kermit and Juma crawled as far under the 
rock as they could. I was too high up for the 
beasts to get me ; and when one of the animals 
reached his trunk down to pull them from un- 
der the rock, I shot him in the eye, and the 
monster tottered and fell. This scared the oth- 
ers, and away they ran. The warriors had 



On came the elephants! 


heard the shooting, and, coming to us, were 
overjoyed at seeing the dead elephant. After 
skinning him, they cut his flesh into chunks 
and smoked it over a fire, which required such 
a long time that we camped there for the night. 

At daybreak we took up our march for the 
point on the river where the Emperor had 
promised that our boats would be. They were 


FLOATING ISLANDS, 


lOI 


there, and also the soldiers who had been or- 
dered to accompany us to Gondokoro ; but they 
refused to get into the boats, saying that the 
river ran through a bewitched country, and 
that every one who entered it would die. Al- 
though these negro warriors knew the Emperor 
would cut off their heads if they disobeyed 
him, we could get but few of them to go with 
us. 

We knew that we had a long, hard, and 
dangerous journey down the river in the lit- 
tle boats; and if we escaped being destroyed 
by the big alligators and hippopotami that 
lived in the river, we were in danger of being 
killed by lions, leopards, or the savage negroes 
who roamed the forests. But we were glad to 
be on our way home. 

Day after day we guided our boats down- 
stream, winding our way in and out among 
the masses of matted grass and water plants 
that formed floating islands upon the river. 
The animals in the water took no notice of 
us ; and not having seen any natives that want- 
ed to fight, we had become careless of danger. 
But as we were passing a place in the river 
where the grass and flowering plants grew far 
out into the water, we were reminded of end- 


102 


WILLIE WYLD, 


less danger by several boat loads of negro 
warriors coming out of hiding and making at 
us. So well had they been hidden that they 
were almost upon us before we saw them. 

On they came, yelling that they were going 
to feed us to the fish. I was seated in the front 
of my boat, and before I well knew what I was 



SAVAGES SHOOTING AT US. 


doing, I had fired my big elephant gun at the 
front boat. The shot tore a hole in the bark 
canoe, which made it fill with water and sink. 
But the sinking of this boat did not stop our 
enemies. On they came, shouting as before. 
The savages were armed only with spears, and 


THO US AMDS OF NEGROES. 103 

could do us no harm until they got close enough 
to spear us. 

But before the nearest boat was within 
spearing distance, General Kermit ordered us 
to fire. Several of the enemy’s boats went to 
the bottom of the river, and the men who could 
had to swim for their lives. 

Their chief was killed, and the boats in the 
rear put out for the shore. We pulled to the 
middle of the river, but the savages ran along 
the banks, shouting and shooting arrows at 
us. 

As we floated down the river, thousands 
of negroes joined those on the banks, and we 
knew that we should be in great danger if the 
river became narrow. 

I think I have told you enough until we 
meet again. Then I shall tell you about the 
end of our exciting trip. 



Ninth Evening. 

C HILDREN, I know that you will be 
glad to learn that the river became 
wider as we paddled on, and the sav- 
ages could do us no harm ; and when dark came 
we heard no more of them. We remained in 
our boats, paddling with all our might, until 
the sun rose high over our heads ; then we 
landed, cooked some food, and rested until the 
cool of the afternoon. 

We learned that the river emptied into a 
lake called Albert Nyanza, and that we should 
have many falls and rapids to pass before we 
could get to the lake. From this lake we should 
again find the Nile flowing toward the north, 
and, after a long journey down that river, we 
should reach Gondokoro. 

The natives were now more friendly, and 
we were able to buy food without much trou- 
ble. As a result, we traveled along very well 
until one evening about sundown we heard a 
(104) 


UGANDA BOATS: 


105 


roar which grew more dreadful as we con- 
tinued down the river. The water soon began 
to carry our boat along very swiftly, for we 
were getting into the rapids near the falls. 

Before our boats got to going so fast that 
we could not control them with our oars, and 
when the roar of the falls was almost deafen- 
ing, we pulled to the shore. We made our 
supper on bananas, elephant’s meat, fish, and 
some monkeys that I had killed. 

It was well that we had Uganda boats, which 
are the best-built boats in the world; but we 
had to take them out of the river and carry 
them around these falls, which was necessary 
at many other places on our journey. But 
with all the hard wear, they lasted us until 
we got within a hundred miles of Gondokoro, 
when we were compelled to travel overland. 

Our food supply having given out, we now 
had to live on bananas, other fruit, and the 
animals we could kill. If our hunters were 
not lucky, we went hungry. This, with many 
other hardships, discouraged the warriors, and 
each day found us with fewer men; but we 
pushed on until father and General Kermit be- 
came so weak from African fever that they 
could travel no farther. We had to make our 


io6 WILLIE WYLD, 

camp on the bank of the river and care for 
them as best we could. 

Two of our men were sent to Gondokoro 
for help, while Juma, Fisi, and I remained to 
guard the sick. The night after our men had 
left us was dark, cloudy, and cold. Our camp 
fires were piled with wood and wet leaves that 
we might get a dense smoke to drive away the 
mosquitoes, for nowhere in the world are there 
so many and so bold mosquitoes as are found 
along the Nile and in Central Africa. At 
times it seemed as though they would pester 
us to death, and the only way we had of get- 
ting rid of them was to stay in smoke that 
would almost smother us. 

Juma had just finished putting some wood 
on our fires when we heard the toot, toot of the 
native war horns, followed by the sound of 
the war drums. We knew that the natives 
were calling their people together, and we felt 
sure that it was for the purpose of making 
war on us. 

We assisted father and General Kermit to 
a place down near the river, and made for 
them a bed of leaves. With logs we built a 
fort to protect ourselves should the negroes 
make a rush at us with their spears. 


THEY MEANT MISCHIEF. 


107 


We now had the fires in front of us and the 
river behind us, so we could see any move- 
ment of our enemies. As a rule, the negroes 
will fight only during the day ; but as the toot, 
toot of the war horns had stopped and the 
war drums had ceased to beat, we felt that 



The savages danced about the hre. 


they meant mischief that night. In silence we 
waited for what might happen. The negroes 
must have thought that we had run away ; for 
hundreds of warriors with nothing on but a 
coat of grease mixed with red iron rust dashed 


io8 


WILLIE WYLD, 


out of the bushes, running to our camp fires. 
As the savages danced and circled about in the 
firelight, the scene would have made a good 
picture of hell and its devils. As yet our fort 
had not been seen ; and as the negroes have lit- 
tle idea of tracking, it was not until some of 
them had shouted themselves thirsty and start- 
ed to the river for a drink that we were found. 
With spears in hand, they made a rush at us, 
but were met by a fire from our guns that sent 
them howling to the woods. 

The great danger and excitement must have 
done father and the General more good than 
medicine; for they were better than they had 
been since having the fever, and used their 
guns as well as any of us. 

The toot, toot of the war horns and the 
beating of the war drums were again heard, 
and we knew from this that more men were be- 
ing called for. We at once got logs to make 
our fort higher and stronger, covering it with 
brush, so we could not be killed with spears 
thrown over the top of it. When daylight 
came there must have been five hundred or a 
thousand soldiers ready for war. 

All day long these black demons fought with 
spears, throwing them at our fort; and all day 


WE DROVE THEM BACK. 


109 


we lay behind our logs, driving them back with 
our guns. But as the sun began to sink, the 
dread of night came upon us. In the rays of 
the setting sun the river looked more like a 
stream of blood than one of water. 

For some reason they had gone away to a 
part of the woods where we could not see them, 
and the only sounds that now came to our ears 
were the murmur of the river, the croaking of 
the frogs, and the chatter of the insects. We 
might not have a better time than this to pre- 
pare something to eat and get water. But 
when I waded out into the river to procure 
water that did not have so many bugs and in- 
sects in it as that close to the shore, I heard the 
splash of paddles. I hurried back to the fort 
and asked Juma who he thought it was. 
‘Those fellows,^’ he said, “are coming up the 
river in canoes, and we shall have to fight them 
on land and water.’’ 

At this moment a number of spears hit our 
fort, and with a yell the negroes rushed from 
the bushes and reeds that grew along the bank 
of the river. 

Juma was struck in the left shoulder and 
badly wounded; but, pulling out the spear, he 
joined the rest of us in opening fire on the 


no 


WILLIE WYLD, 


savages. Our firing stopped them but a mo- 
ment, for it was now so dark that we could not 
see how to take aim. We had expected to keep 
the savages back until we received help from 
Gondokoro, but we had now lost hope. The 
black warriors were crowding close around 
our fort, and some of them had even climbed 
on it before we could drive them away. 

My shoulder was battered sore by my ele- 
phant gun kicking me, and Juma was weak- 
ened from the wound he had received. But 
we must fight until death released us from our 
agony. If these black demons captured us, 
they would torture every one to death ; and the 
longer they were doing it, the more they would 
enjoy seeing us die. We felt that now the 
savages would come at us from the land and 
the water, and it was with the bravery known 
only to men in our dangerous place that we 
prepared to meet them. 

The next time the blacks appeared, they 
seemed to come from everywhere except the 
river. Spears and arrows rained upon our fort. 
Fisi was wounded, Juma could scarcely load 
his gun, while father and General Kermit 
were too weak to keep up a constant firing. 

The savages were crowding upon us, and it 


I HEARD A WHISTLE. 


Ill 



looked to me that we were lost, when I heard a 
long, loud whistle. I had never heard any- 
thing like it in Africa. The negro warriors 
became frightened at what they heard, and ran 
to the woods. Again I heard the whistle and 
a ^^chug, chug’’ noise. Every one looked down 


THE BOAT THAT SAVED US. 

the river and saw what was to us the most 
beautiful sight that we ever beheld. It was a 
steamboat with sparks flying from the chim- 
neys and the white steam puffing from her 
escape pipes. 

Our enemies had been the first to see the 
boat, and, thinking it a huge devil, ran to the 



II2 


WILLIE WYLD. 


woods. We were not only spared from an aw- 
ful death, but were soon on board the first 
steamboat that had ever been that far up the 
Nile. 

The officers and men in charge gave us the 
best of care; but the long-continued hardships 
that I had undergone and the dreadful strain 
I had been under while protecting our little 
fort had been too much for me. 

That night I went into a high fever, and 
knew nothing more that happened until we 
had gone far down the Nile. As we traveled 
farther north, the pure air from over the des- 
ert gave me strength; and when we arrived 
at Cairo, in the northern part of Egypt, I 
was able to leave the boat and go to a hos- 
pital. 

We paid Juma and Fisi double the amount 
of money that we had agreed to pay them, 
bade them a grateful farewell, and sent them 
back home by the way of the Red Sea and the 
Indian Ocean. 

We had a delightful voyage back to Ameri- 
ca, and there was great rejoicing on our arriv- 
ing at home. We found letters from my un- 
cle telling of the discovery of large quantities 
of gold in California and of so many people 


Things have changed, 113 

who had found it that father decided to give 
up his place in the zoo and take his family to 
California to hunt for the precious metal. But 
before leaving General Kermit I made him 
promise me that he would take me with him 
if he ever journeyed through any other coun- 
try than Africa. 

Now, children, if you look upon the map of 
Africa as it is to-day, you will find that the 
names of nearly all the countries we passed 
through have been changed, the country of 
Uganda being about the only one that retains 
the old name. The different governments of 
Europe have taken all this part of Africa for 
their own use. The negro villages that we 
passed through have long ago been destroyed, 
and in some places towns have been built by 
the white people. Where we toiled on our 
journey through the jungles, along narrow 
paths, suffering from heat, thirst, and hun- 
ger, men to-day travel on a railroad train in 
palace cars. The whistle and roar of the loco- 
motive are now heard where then the roar of 
the lion and the whistle of the rhino broke the 
stillness of the night. Numbers of steamboats 
are now on the Nile River, and the hippo in 
Lake Victoria Nyanza must get out of the 
8 


WILLIE WYLD, 


114 

way of the large steam vessels that to-day plow 
her waters. 

Christian missionaries are teaching and 
preaching the gospel to the natives of the coun- 
tries through which we traveled. But there 
are so many millions of negroes and so few 
missionaries that it will require years and years 
to teach all these people. 

But the white man has been and is now tak- 
ing possession of the land of the negro, and 
these people will become the slaves of the white 
race or be driven from place to place as the 
red man was driven in America. And in the 
hundreds of years to come the negro race will 
join the American Indian in the land beyond 
the grave. 









